Nov 18 Na'aleh Day 4: Alon Kopelowitz

Again we started the day nice and early. Some of us got up earlier and went out forbreakfast to try different aspects of Israeli cuisine the others stayed in and got some muchneeded rest. After breakfast we met in the shule for a shacharit service, which included aTorah reading from a beautiful Sephardi Torah, lead by Mr Grauman. After shule it was timeto get stuck into a new day.

We got into learning with Rabbi Kahn and continued our leaning about Chanukah and thereason why we light the Chanukia the way we do. Challenging myself to learn Hebrew and tounderstand the Gemara was something I really took to heart when it came to learning in theBeit Midrash.

We then had a shiur with our very own David Wolfowicz. We looked into a moral dilemmaabout a boy who was bullied and his response to these bullies. He responded to these bulliesby poisoning his sandwich and when the bullies asked for his lunch he poisoned the bullies.We then looked into the Rabbi’s opinions on situations similar to this and the Halacha (laws).We came to the conclusion that the kid who poisoned his own sandwich was in the right,which was a surprise to all of us.

Our next shuir was with another rabbi from the institute. He discussed the week’s parsha(Toldot), which focuses on Esau. He described how Esau had potential to be a righteous Jewand explained how this was seen as a very controversial topic.

None of us liked the standard Yeshiva lunch so we ventured through the town of BeitShemesh and came across delicious felafel and pita. After a great lunch it was straight backto learning with Rav Ely Allen. We had an amazing Q&amp;A session where we discussed topicssuch as the views of hell from other faiths, homosexuality in Judaism, and the ways scienceis changing Judaism. All these topics created a very interesting environment and causedmuch debate. This was surely a highlight of the day. After a mincha service we left afteranother successful day at Yeshiva.

We got back to the hotel for a much needed chill before we had a delightful meal. We thenwent to the Eshel’s for a pre-Shabbat challah bake. We baked challot and learnt about thetrue meaning of why we bake it. It was a very meaningful experience that I’m sure we all cantake something away from.